NEW HAVEN – Former President Bill Clinton returned to the Elm City on Tuesday to reenergize the Democratic troops and raise money to help the reelection campaign of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Clinton’s appearance generated a sellout crowd of party activists, including former state party chairman and former state AFL-CIO president John Olsen. Clinton graduated from Yale Law School in New Haven, as did U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who accompanied him Tuesday on the stump with Malloy.

Aside from President Barack Obama, Clinton is the Democratic Party’s biggest star and a guaranteed fundraiser who is known for drawing large crowds to events.

Devon Puglia, a Democratic Party spokesman, said “several hundred’’ arrived at the rally at $50 per person in a truncated ballroom on the second floor of the Omni Hotel here.

“We’ve had to turn people away,’’ Puglia said, adding that Clinton had not planned any other higher-priced fundraisers Tuesday for the state Democratic Party.

The crowd started gathering more than an hour before Clinton’s arrival, and the earliest arrivals made sure they were in the front row in the ballroom.

“This is a dream come true,’’ said Joe Young, a 21-year-old member of the Manchester Democratic Town Committee.